Dear Stephen Thanks for sharing the strategic plan presentation. Here are my initial impressions and some early suggestions. Focus on outcomes. The presentation tells me a lot about what you do, but after reading it I’m really struggling to find out what you’re going to do for me? (Not me, but you know….) What do […]
Category: Strategy
Lost in translation
Anyone remember the Mars Orbiter disaster back in 1999? A 125 million dollar space shot to Mars disintegrated on impact because two project teams didn’t speak the same language even though they both lived in the same country. As it turned out the Jet Propulsion team based in California were speaking metric, (think millimeters and […]
Social issues … Business traps
The more successful a company becomes the more resistant it becomes to change. But when change comes that could destroy your business model it’s wise to pay attention early and get ahead of the curve. Hoping for the best is never a good strategy. In the 1991 three killer whales performing in a show in […]
HBO Sopranos
We’re all watching TV these days and it has become a major battle for your eye balls. Networks like HBO, Disney, Crave, Netflix (‘Net fix’ in our household) Amazon, Hulu and others are trying to outdo the other in creative content. But where did this craze all start? Television in the 1970’s 80’s and 90’s […]
Packer Sweep
Are the resources of your business aligned with the opportunities in this ‘new’ market? In times of crisis you have to go back to the basics. Find a simple path forward and follow it. Coach Vince Lombardi exemplified this strategy when he took over the Green Bay Packers football team on February 2, 1959. At […]
Finding Hope
Back in the early 1980’s I started my consulting career teaching small business finance. Ronald Reagan was president, interest rates soared to over 20% and unemployment was approaching 35% in the small city in which I was living. Two men who owned an appliance store signed up for my course. Both had worked at the […]
Back to the future
“When the going gets tough …the tough get going”. The well known sports maxim is still very applicable to business people today. For anyone at home waiting out the Coronavirus hoping that business will return to normal, history tells us that now is the not the time to wait and see how it all pans […]
The Italian Job
Boil it down to its core and the goal of a market driven business strategy is to ensure the resources of your firm (people’s time and money) are aligned with your best market opportunities. Anything less and your firm is burning resources. However, aligning resources with opportunities is only half the battle. The other equally important half […]
Disruptive technologies
Early in my career we conducted a program for Kodak. This was when Kodak was still selling chemical film, along with disposable cameras and making buckets of money. It was also a time when the first digital cameras were just hitting the market. These innovative cameras were bulky, produced grainy pictures and were mostly used […]
The Most Dangerous Strategy of All
After an exhausting 700+ case studies at business school it’s a wonder that anyone would remember one as standing out, but for me it was the FedEx case study. The case follows Fred Smith’s creation of the iconic company, an idea he formulated as a student at Yale where he wrote the business plan as […]
